President Donald Trump stood up for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) in light of several recent damaging stories that could affect the senator’s chances in the upcoming Nov. 27 special election against Democrat Mike Espy.
“She made a statement which — I know that she feels very badly about it, and it was just sort of said in jest, as she said, and she’s a tremendous woman,” Trump told reporters near Marine One.
Trump sticks up for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) despite her jokes about public hanging, voter suppression pic.twitter.com/JnekPatUXK
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 20, 2018
The “statement” Trump mentioned may have been a reference to Hyde-Smith joking about sitting in the “front row” of a “public hanging” if a supporter had invited her.
But Hyde-Smith never said she felt “very badly” about the remark, as Trump claimed. Instead, she said criticisms of the remark were “ridiculous.”
Trump could also have been referring to Hyde-Smith joking about making it “just a little more difficult” for certain “liberal folks” to vote.
She didn’t express regret about that comment either. “Obviously Sen. Hyde-Smith was making a joke,” a spokesperson for her campaign said.
Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign has already committed to hosting two rallies in support of Hyde-Smith the day before the Nov. 27 special election — both were announced after her comments about the public hanging and voter suppression had been widely reported — and Trump on Tuesday said he might add a third.
On Tuesday, Politico surfaced a photo taken in 2014 of Hyde-Smith in a Confederate soldier’s hat, holding a rifle.
